The amount of paid-for DLC available for The Sims 4 is actually dizzying. Ranging from full-blown Expansion Packs with gameplay overhauls and new worlds, down to tiny collections of new items at pocket money prices, the selection is staggering.
Considering that the dollhouse simulator has been around for over a decade now, and the fact that EA does love to pump out extras, it’s not really all that surprising. In turn, it also kind of makes sense that at some point, older features might start creeping their way into newer Packs with different hats on.
Samey DLC could have a knock-on effect for older packs as features effectively get replaced by others. Another consequence is that some older Packs might not end up being bought at all anymore.
Reveal trailers are giving me Déjà Vu
Sometimes being a long-time Simmer feels like being the lead in a classic thriller. You never know when something from a long time ago is going to make a comeback with a marginally different haircut, a la Kim Novak in Vertigo.
I’ve had this concern lately in the run-up to both Enchanted By Nature and Adventure Awaits. Both Packs have great potential – and reintroduce some much-anticipated content – and have a worthy place in the simulator’s ecosystem. But that doesn’t change the fact that a few features feel rather familiar.
Please stop Hitchcocking-ing me with DLC, EA. I don’t want more rebranded gameplay.
The easy comparisons roll in when thinking about some of The Sims 4’s earlier paid DLC. Outdoor Retreat is one Game Pack that seems to have either been a significant influence for the newest content – or perhaps forgotten about entirely. The Game Pack feels like a taster of an amalgamation of both Enchanted By Nature and the upcoming Adventure Awaits as it offers communal camping, an expanded foraging-esque Herbalism system, bug collecting, and activities to enjoy in the rough.
Although they’re recent examples, they aren’t the first time this has happened. Growing Together, an Expansion Pack focused on building your family legacy, had similar pitfalls despite being an excellent update. Another Game Pack is at the scene of the crime this time, too, in the form of Parenthood. It almost feels like EA is using Game Packs as testing grounds for later, fuller Expansions – except for the fact that they come so many years later.
New Simmers have good reason to steer clear of older DLC
While samey DLC is an annoying experience if you’ve got a few in your collection, it’s probably a very different experience for newer Simmers. If there are two similar packs available, then there’s really no reason for them to buy both.
Say you don’t have a wide catalogue of paid-for DLC already, and you need to pick carefully to make the most of your money according to your playstyle. Why on earth would you buy two packs focused mostly on camping?
You wouldn’t. So, I wonder if, over time, older Packs might become basically redundant as fewer gamers buy them and their features get replaced by later releases.
What happened to Pack refreshes?
EA is reheating its own nachos a little. Admittedly, the new packs often improve on older features, but it doesn’t change that it clutters the game with too many similar features. Did we really need separate Apothecary and Herbalism skills, split across different DLC? Could we not have just had a refresh of the skill instead?
It’s not like The Sims is a stranger to refreshes.
Specifically, EA refreshed Spa Day back in 2021. This refresh greatly improved what the Game Pack had to offer by introducing a new Trait and Aspirations. Couldn’t the team have given us an Outdoor Retreat refresh, instead of rehashing features across multiple new Expansion Packs?
Since Spa Day’s update rolled out, it’s been awfully quiet on the refresh front. In fact, at the time of writing, no other packs have been refreshed at all. The closest we’ve gotten has been the Goth family’s (admittedly excellent) makeover back in 2022. Given how long it’s been, it’s easy to wonder if it’s curtains for that whole experiment.
More Packs, more profit
It would figure that releasing new Packs makes more money than refreshing old ones. Sure, changing up older DLC would probably inspire some Simmers who didn’t already own it to go buy it. But it wouldn’t get any more cash out of oldheads who already own them.
Said oldheads might even be the most likely repeat customers, who want to complete their collections. New Expansions that are similar to older content – particularly those that reintroduce fan favourite features, like imaginary friends – will most likely still be snapped up by users who already own, say, Parenthood and Growing Together.
It makes sense – if there’s something you like about The Sims, similar content can mean more of the good stuff for you. It’s also a more surefire way of squeezing money out of the franchise.
All-new content would improve The Sims 4 more than rehashes of older ideas
Fresher, more innovative additions to The Sims 4 would transform the game far quicker than Emperor’s new clothes-style Expansion Packs. DLC doesn’t come cheap, and the price would be much more justified if they added fresher gameplay.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not mad that some parts of The Sims 4 are a bit busted, or even being recycled a little. I align myself firmly with what were probably the last wise words shared on Twitter: “I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less.”
I’m even excited about what most new releases for The Sims 4 have to offer. But I also have to wonder why we’re sitting around playing reruns.
I especially wonder why we’re doing this when there are so many completely new features missing from the game that leave a substantial hole. Why can’t our Sims use prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other disability aids without mods and custom content? Where are the options to play with a nomadic lifestyle, featuring caravans or houseboats? Can we have more worlds based on countries outside of Europe and North America?
There are so many things I’d want far more than reruns of features we kind of, sort of, almost already have. I just don’t need yet another way of going camping.
So many features need fixes before we pile on more new ones
The Sims 4 has more bugs than a kid’s ant farm. Fixes are underway for most of them, and The Sims Team is committed to a Quality of Life Roadmap for finding and resolving these kinds of issues. However, all of that doesn’t make it feel any less daunting to try and squeeze more new features into an already bloated game while save files are getting corrupted.
It’s not just the big bugs we need to worry about, either. Plenty of the features introduced by older packs are chocka with problems. Have you tried to build a basement for a client in the Interior Design career lately?
Suffice to say, I would not suggest you do so. Unless you love to work for free and get bad reviews for it. In which case, be my guest.
